In addition to Zhang Kewang, Zhang Dingguo, Zhang Wenxiu, and Zhang Nengqi, the four righteous sons of Zhang Xianzhong, Feng Shuangli, Bai Wenxuan, Ma Yuanli, Wang Ziqi, Wang Fuchen, Dou Mingming, and Cao Ying, Bai Gui, Hei Yunxiang and other generals stood on both sides of the handsome case, and Luo Rucai and Xu Yixian, the military advisor, sat on the left and right of Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong stroked his long hair and glanced around: "Everyone, you must be curious, why did Lao Tzu call everyone to come to the meeting in the middle of the night?" ”

Ma Yuanli couldn't help but yawn: "Jing Shuai, just say it quickly, after saying that, everyone should go back and continue to sleep." ”

"Birds! Tonight, we are going to camp and attack Xiangyang overnight! You didn't sleep well! Zhang Xianzhong scolded.

Bai Wenxuan asked puzzledly: "Jing Shuai, we are less than a hundred miles away from Xiangyang, why are we in such a hurry?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong couldn't help laughing, pointed at Xu Yixian and said, "Then you have to ask our good military advisor!" ”

Xu Yixian hurriedly got up, bowed to Zhang Xianzhong, and then turned to the generals, and told the story of Dingguo's capture of the military talisman and fire paint documents, together with the plan to attack Xiangyang.

After listening to Xu Yixian's words, the generals were enthusiastic and asked to fight, but Zhang Xianzhong turned his gaze to Dingguo, who had not spoken, and said: "Dingguo, the last attack on Xiangyang, it was the soldiers led by your boy, and this time the documents and talismans were paid by you, so it is better for you to go!"

"No!" Hearing that his father pointed to him, Dingguo immediately stepped out of the queue and agreed loudly.

Back in the camp, Dingguo immediately selected three hundred elite soldiers, all of them changed into the red fat jackets of the official army, and then deliberately picked the clothes and armor with swords, and sent someone to ask for a large pot of pig blood from the Huotou battalion, so that the soldiers smeared the pig blood all over the body in turn, disguised as a fierce tiger army, led by Jin Tongwu, and rushed to Xiangyang first.

After Jin Tongwu left, Dingguo asked Wang Guoren to find another 27 personal soldiers, all of whom changed into the clothes of the superintendent's standard battalion, and he disguised himself as Liu Xingxiu, the garrison of the Chinese army who had been captured earlier, with fire paint documents and military talismans, and swaggered towards Xiangyang City along the official road.

There are six gates in Xiangyang City, Yangchun Gate and Zhenhua Gate in the east, Wenchang Gate in the south, Xicheng Gate in the west, Gongchen Gate and Linhan Gate in the north. When Yang Sichang was in Xiangyang, each city gate had a deputy general to serve as the access control, day and night on duty on the city gate tower, and later Yang Sichang moved the superintendent to Sichuan, the gate was suddenly relaxed, except for the Wenchang Gate guarded by the guerrilla Li Min'an, the other five city gates were only stationed by the thousand generals.

On the fourth day of the first month of February, just after the hour, Jin Tongwu took the lead with 300 Xiying soldiers to rush to the Wenchang Gate in the south of Xiangyang City.

The officers and soldiers defending the city did not know why, so they asked them for arrows, and the soldiers of the western camp immediately shouted together according to Jin Tongwu's orders in advance: "We are all soldiers who have fled, where did the arrows come from?" ”

"Where are you waiting for the rout?" A small flag officer in the city asked suspiciously, holding a torch aloft.

Jin Tongwu shouted towards the head of the city: "We were originally soldiers of Zuo Zongzhen, and then we were transferred to the command of Mengzong Town!" Some time ago, Mengzong Town was defeated in Kaixian, and our brothers were chased all the way through Wushan by thieves, and they were able to escape by water! Hurry up and lower the drawbridge and let me wait to enter the city! ”

The little flag officer immediately answered: "Since you are a soldier of Zuo Zongzhen, why don't you go to Zuo Zongzhen to return to the camp?" What did you do in Xiangyang City? ”

"The brothers had not eaten for days, and they were hungry and cold, so they wanted to go into the city and have a good meal! We are all soldiers who eat food, and please be accommodating! Jin Tongwu continued to shout.

"Brother, it's not that you're embarrassed, it's really that there is a strict order from the upper peak, and you are not allowed to open the city gate easily!" The little flag officer said in embarrassment.

Jin Tongwu then hugged his fist towards the city: "Then please ask the old brother to follow Shangfeng Tong, and say that the brothers will leave after eating!" ”

The small flag officer did not dare to make a claim, and hurriedly went to find the guerrilla Li Min'an, who was asleep in the nest under the city tower at this time, and hurriedly got up and climbed the city tower when he heard the news, leaning on the battlements of the city wall and looking down, only to see that the city was pitch black, and it was vaguely visible that although these hundreds of people were wearing the uniforms of the officers and soldiers, they were all dressed in tatters, and there was blood everywhere on their bodies, and it seemed that they had indeed experienced a vicious battle.

Li Min'an was worried that the rout army would be difficult to control into the city, so he did not plan to open the city, but he had no intention of driving it away, so the two sides were deadlocked.

About half an hour later, Dingguo also came to Xiangyang City with twenty-seven horsemen, and saw from a distance that this group of disguised Xiying soldiers were gathering in groups under the city to roast the fire, Dingguo couldn't help but turn his head to Wang Guoren beside him and smiled: "It seems that Lao Jin has eaten a closed door!" ”

After everyone finished laughing, Dingguo emphasized the precautions again, and then ordered everyone to light torches and gallop towards the suspension bridge together.

In front of Jin Tongwu, Dingguo suddenly stopped his horse, glanced at him, and then scolded loudly: "Where did you come from to defeat the army? The Governor has a strict order, and all the defeated troops will go to Kuifu to be reorganized, why are you here? ”

When the guards at the head of the city heard the sound, they all poked their heads out and looked down at the city.

Jin Tongwu held back a smile, patted his butt and stood up from the ground, and shouted at Dingguo: "Bird! Who are you? Lao Tzu is going to eat here today, it's your business! ”

Dingguo raised his horsewhip and said angrily: "I am Liu Xingxiu, the garrison of the Chinese army under the command of the Governor!" Wait for you to roar at Shangguan, is this a rebellion? ”

After that, Dingguo drew his saber and led the twenty-seven cavalry soldiers towards Jin Tongwu and they rushed to kill him, Jin Tongwu pretended to be panicked and screamed, and immediately dispersed with this group of "routs".

Dingguo pretended to chase and kill for a while, and then turned back to the city and shouted to open the door.

At this time, although the news of Li Zicheng's capture of Luoyang had not yet reached Xiangyang, Yang Sichang had repeatedly told Zhang Kejian and Wang Chengzeng, the prefect, before entering Sichuan, that except for those who held military talismans and were stamped with the emergency documents of the superintendent's seal, the rest of the idle people were not allowed to enter the city. Therefore, Li Min'an was quite cautious about this, looked down from the battlement of the city wall, and asked loudly: "Who knocks on the door under the city?" ”

Dingguo immediately stood outside the suspension bridge, shook the urgent document stamped with fire paint in his hand, and shouted to the city: "Listen to the city, the Inspector is flying here, quickly put down the suspension bridge!" ”

Across the moat and the darkness of the night, Li Min'an couldn't really see it, but looking at the more than twenty people below, and there were the Inspector Feiyu paperwork in hand, he hesitated for a moment, but still ordered the suspension bridge to be lowered.

Dingguo immediately took twenty-seven horsemen to cross the suspension bridge, went straight to the city gate, turned over and jumped off the "two buckets of gold", and handed the fire paint document in his hand into the urn city cave.

Seeing that it was an urgent document sealed with fire paint, the city gate official did not dare to slack off, and said politely: "Ladies and gentlemen, wait here for a while, and the villain will go to report it!" ”

Dingguo was furious: "What? Do you suspect that we are cheating? ”

The city gate official hurriedly smiled and said, "Don't blame you, you don't dare to make a mistake when you are in your responsibility." Now is a special period, and only with the permission of Lord Li can the inner city gate be opened! ”

"Why don't you go soon? If you miss the important things of the Overseer, be careful of the dog's head! After saying that, Dingguo couldn't help but kick heavily on the nail of the city gate on the side, shaking the dust covering the cracks of the city gate and scattering everywhere.

"Master Jun, don't worry, Lord Li is on the city tower, you can't make a mistake!" After saying that, the city gate official hurriedly ran up the city tower with the fire paint paperwork.

Li Min'an took the fire paint paperwork, and read it several times by the light of the torch, and there seemed to be nothing suspicious, but he was still a little relieved, so he asked the city gate official to lead the way and personally rushed to the urn city gate cave to investigate.

Coming to the gate of the urn city, Li Min'an took a closer look at Dingguo, and couldn't help but be a little suspicious in his heart, and immediately asked vigilantly: "The people who supervise the master have all seen it, who are you, and why do you look so angry?" ”

Dingguo shrugged his shoulders and showed a wry smile: "The humble position is Liu Xingxiu, the garrison of the Chinese army under the command of the Governor, because he just arrived at Xingyuan on an errand some time ago, and his qualifications are the most shallow, so he got such a hard job!" This road is chaotic, difficult and difficult, and I haven't been able to sleep for several days! ”

Although Dingguo was true, Li Minan was still skeptical, he turned his head and glanced behind Dingguo again, and continued to ask: "How many people are there in total?" ”

Dingguo stepped aside, pointed to the soldiers behind him, and said respectfully: "My lord, please see, plus the humble position, there are only twenty-eight people in total." ”

Li Min'an nodded, and then asked Dingguo about some secret things about the superintendent's practice, thanks to the fact that before he came, Dingguo had already asked Liu Xingxiu carefully and did his homework, so he answered fluently.

Seeing that he couldn't find any flaws after asking for a long time, Li Min'an put his hanging heart back in his stomach, and said to Dingguo with a straight face: "You go to Nanguan to find an inn and wait, I will immediately submit the official document to the Daotai Yamen, if there is a palindrome, immediately send someone to the residence, and you will bring it back." ”

Dingguo saw that Li Min'an was holding the document and turned around to leave, so he hurriedly stepped forward to stop it, and said: "My lord, slow down, you don't know, this is a hundred thousand urgent documents, before leaving, the Inspector has repeatedly told you to be sure to personally submit this document to the Daotai Lord along with the military talisman, and you must not handle it with others, please forgive me." ”

"If you have a military talisman, why not say it earlier? You wait here for a while, and Ben will go to the Taoist Yamen to make a speech. Hearing that there was a military talisman, Li Min'an's face suddenly softened a lot.

At this moment, I suddenly heard a hoarse and old voice behind me: "Don't be so troublesome, the old man is here." ”

Li Min'an and Dingguo were stunned for a moment almost at the same time, and when they turned their heads, they saw that it was a short-bearded old man who was nearly sixty years old and wearing a scarlet official robe of Yunyan Buzi.

Li Min'an hurriedly bowed down and saluted, "Lord Daotai, why haven't you slept yet?" ”

Dingguo lowered his head, glanced at it quietly from the corner of his eye, and secretly said in his heart that this was Zhang Kejian, the Xiangyang Soldier's Preparation, but he didn't expect it to be an old man!

Zhang Kejian waved his hand, signaled Li Min'an to flash to the side, and then walked straight to Dingguo, and said with a straight face: "Where is the flying heirloom of the cabinet lord?" ”

Dingguo hurriedly handed the fire paint document to Zhang Kejian, stretched out his hand to take the paperwork, Zhang Kejian was not in a hurry to open it, but first carefully checked the seal of the superintendent and auxiliary ministers, and then carefully tore open the fire paint seal, took out the document from the envelope, and read it hastily by the light of the torch on the side.

"Bring the talisman and show it to the officer." Zhang Kejian put away the paperwork, raised his head and greeted Dingguo.

Dingguo hurriedly presented half of the talisman to Zhang Kejian respectfully, Zhang Kejian took the talisman, shook it twice with his hand, and took out the other half of the talisman from his arms.

"Well, this talisman is real." After inspecting the talisman, Zhang Kejian raised his head, carefully looked at the famous young man in front of him, saw that Dingguo was awe-inspiring, there was no dodging in his eyes, and finally no longer doubted in his heart, and explained with a smile on his face, "No wonder, the army's heavy grain and grass are all hoarded in the city, and this official bears the trust of the Governor, so he doesn't dare to take it lightly." ”

"Lord Daotai is loyal to his duties, he can be called a model for my generation, and when he returns from his humble duties, he will report to the Governor truthfully." Dingguo bowed slightly to Zhang Kejian and said respectfully.

Dingguo's words, Zhang Kejian listened to it very usefully, thanked him again and again, and then ordered: "What are you still doing in a daze?" Hurry up and open the door and let go! ”

As the inner city gate rumbled open, Zhang Kejian commanded Li Min'an again: "General Li, and place all the officials in the Chengtian Temple, good wine and good food and hospitality, don't slack off!" ”

"Don't worry, sir, I'll do it here!" Li Min'an hurriedly agreed, and immediately led Dingguo and his party of twenty-eight horsemen through the urn city, straight into Xiangyang City, all the way to the direction of Chengtian Temple.